BHI July August 2009

BHI July August 2009, originally uploaded by Watts4.

Erosion of the Old Bald Head Dune from July to August 2009

The pictures are from different angles, but should be close enough to get the idea.

Bye-Bye Bald Head Dune

There it sits, on the beach.

Moving the shipping channel closer to Bald Head, and then pumping the dredged channel sand over to Oak Island has devastated the southwestern tip of Bald Head, and now the Old Bald Head Dune faces imminent collapse. The bird habitat is gone, and no turtles have nested near there this year.

Photo courtesy of Marvin Neuwirth

Update: The Star-News reports in an article titled "No deaths or major damage as hurricane Bill passes"...

"Battered on Bald Head

The peak of the season is worrying Bald Head Island residents and officials, where the beaches continue to erode.

Officials evacuated eight homes on Sandpiper Trail as well as on South and West Bald Head Wynd because the homes had five feet of water underneath them, Bald Head Island Mayor Larry Lammert said.

He said power to the homes was turned off as a precaution to avoid any chance of electrocution. Most of the people in the homes were leaving anyway because the rentals run from Saturday to Saturday, he added.

Bald Head Island resident Watts Carr said the island has been gradually eroding since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started dredging the Cape Fear River shipping channel earlier this year.

“The hurricane, certainly, just makes it worse,” he added.

Carr and others are wondering how the island will hold up if at storm actually hits land. Since February, island officials said they’ve lost more than 150 feet of beach in places, with erosion losses continuing as the island tries to find its new equilibrium.

Lammert said he believes Hurricane Bill wiped away the last of the sea turtle nests Friday night.

“It’s just terrible,” he added"

My Dad also reports they're losing 10 feet with each high tide. No major damage though, according to the (a-hem) f'ing headline.

Alligators Attack: Implications for Bald Head?

Sanibel rethinks its experiment in gator tolerance | csmonitor.com

There has never been a fatal attack on a human at Bald Head Island, thanks goodness. But there was the story about the man and his (gulp) dog a while back....the link to the story is dead, and so is the gator....after the dog was eaten, somebody shot the gator. I wonder what ever happened with this story...anybody know?
People just need to be smarter, but you can't count on that it seems.